136 



THE OOLOGIST. 



down to that swampy spot and return 

 laden with fern-down which he gather- 

 ed from the stalks of ferns. This ma- 

 terial he puts on the inside for a lining 

 but there is very little difference be- 

 tween the lining and any other part of 

 the nest. 



And all this time he has not eaten a 

 mouthful, that we can see, nor have I 

 ever seen him eat in building time, 

 though I suppose of course he must 

 eat on the sly. 



The Blue-gray Gnatcatcher has some 

 curious ideas about building, as the 

 facts from my note book will show. 



On April 5, 1890, my brother and my- 

 self were out in the woods looking for 

 nests. I found my first Blue-gray nest 

 of that season in a black gum tree, and 

 a little Avhile afterwards he found an- 

 other nest in the same tree within three 

 feet of mine, whioh was being built by 

 the same pair of birds. 



I had never heard of such a case be- 

 fore and was naturally very much as- 

 tonished, but thtre can't possibly be 

 any mistake about it, as I would watch 

 one bird put material on one nest, then 

 get more material and put it on the 

 other nest, and its mate would do the 

 same thing. 



They kept this up until the nests were 

 about half done when they quit the 

 nest I found completed the other. 



When I went to collect the nest, 

 something must have fallen into it, as 

 I found two broken eggs and one good 

 one, which I have now. 



Another peculiarity about them is 

 that they will start a nest in one place 

 and then tear it up and build another 

 nest of the same material. 



I found a Blue-gray building a nest 

 in a small pine on April 18, '91. Seven 

 daj's afterward.sl went back to see how 

 she was getting along and caught her 

 tearing up her old nest and carrying it 

 to build a new nest about 100 yards dis- 

 tant, in a much larger pine. I also 

 know of two other instances. 



The Blue-grays quit a great many 

 nests before they finish them. It has 

 been my experience that finding three 

 nests when building, I get one set of 

 eggs. 



They build at all altitudes, from six 

 to sixty feet above the ground. The 

 don't seem to care much for their sur- 

 roundings either, as I have found nests 

 in the depths of the woods and in a 

 peach tree in a front yard out in the 

 couutrjf; in lonely swamps and almost 

 directly over a public road. 



I don't suppose there is any use de- 

 scribing the eggs of the Blue-gra3',for I 

 expect a majority of my readers (if I 

 have any) have one or more specimens 

 in their cabinets, bnt some may not 

 know how many eggs generally make 

 up a set. 



In this locality the average number is 

 five, often four and very seldom six. I 

 have never found a set of six myself, 

 but they have been found in this locali- 

 ty by friends of mine. 



Blue-grays are pi-etty common about 

 here, and their nests are very easily 

 found, owing to the fact that they build 

 and do nothing else for a certain time, 

 so that if you find a Blue-gray during 

 that time you are pretty apt to find a 

 nest also. 



But methinks I see this article re- 

 treating to Mr. Lattin's waste basket in 

 ignominious flight, so I Avaste no more 

 time on it. 



Albert R. Hay ward, Jr., 

 Columbia, S. C, 



Treatment of Cases of Ivy Poison- 

 Seeing in a back number of the OoLO- 

 GiST an article in reference to the poi- 

 son sumach, I thought it might be of in- 

 terest to some of the readers to hear my 

 experience witli the poisnu Ivy. 



Poison ivy is a plant which gives the 

 oologist no end of annoyance; no mat- 

 ter how guarded he may be during his 

 visits into the country, he is sure if his 



